


Y Cada Día it’s a Brand New Chore

by Hubris_BNL



Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: Gen, Protect Sonny 2k16, sick!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-02 00:21:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8643970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hubris_BNL/pseuds/Hubris_BNL
Summary: Usnavi is worrier, and there is no one he worries more about than his little cousin. Especially when he gets sick.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GamblingDementor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamblingDementor/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Hurricane of Love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7915738) by [GamblingDementor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamblingDementor/pseuds/GamblingDementor). 



> I just adored Hurricane of Love by the amazing GamblingDementor, so I wrote a little thing where Sonny get sick as well! I hope you all enjoy it!!! ((thank you @pikaace for reading it over, i love you!!!))

“I don’t care if you don’t wanna get sick! You’ve gotta let me hide out!”

“You know why I can’t stay here! If ‘Navi finds out, I’m done for! And don’t tell me you don’t know what he’s like, he did it to you last spring!”

“Alright, perfect, thanks Pete. I’ll be there in 15. Keep the door unlocked.”

Sonny hung up the phone, shoving it into his pants pocket before pulling on his left shoe. He quickly muffled the sound of a sneeze with his sleeve and rubbed at his eyes. He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, he had to keep getting up to cough in the bathroom just to that Usnavi wouldn’t hear him.

Tugging on his coat, Sonny peeked out the door of their shared bedroom, looking both ways to make sure the man in question wasn’t prowling around. He heard soft humming from downstairs, some old song Abuela used to listen to. Usnavi was making breakfast.

He grabbed his backpack, heaving it on his shoulder, and crept as quietly as he could out of the room. His shoes made no noise on the carpeted floor of the hallway, but it was when he got to the staircase that he started questioning his thought process.

Usnavi’s humming was louder now, and Sonny could even hear him singing. Along with the fact that he didn’t want to lose an entire week or more in bed, which was what would happen if Nurse Usnavi caught him, he also didn’t want to ruin his cousin’s mood.

It wasn’t anything big, just a cold, but ever since they were small and Tia Luz and Tio Luís passed away, his cousin had always freaked out when someone got sick. Of course Sonny could understand, but that didn’t mean he’d let himself become a statistic.

So he was silent as a mouse, stepping slowly and carefully on each step as he made his way down the stairs. He paused only once when a dizzy spell overtook him, but he held onto the railing and continued down.

And then...his nose started to tickle.

Oh no.

Oh God please, no!

_“Achoo!”_

The singing immediately stopped, (and so did Sonny’s heart) replaced with the sound of rapid footsteps coming from the kitchen towards the foyer. Sonny tried to turn around and get back upstairs, but it was too late.

“Sonny?”

Usnavi appeared in the landing, oven mitts on and squinting up at where Sonny stood on the stairs.

“Hey cuz, I was just going out.” even Sonny cringed at the sound of his own voice. Usnavi, of course, lost it.

“Sonny, oh my god, you sound awful! Are you sick!?”

Sonny didn’t answer, only took another step up the stairs. Usnavi’s eyebrows furrowed.

“You _are_.” he accused, “C’mere, Son.”

Sonny took another step.

 _“Sonny.”_ Usnavi’s voice lowered in warning, but it was too late.

Sonny bolted back up the stairs to the bedroom. He distantly heard Usnavi swear, followed by his cousin’s feet sprinting up the stairs after him. When he reached the room, he threw himself in, slamming the door shut behind him and collapsing into a fit of coughs.

“Sonny, come on, let me in!” Usnavi shouted, banging on the door, “you sound terrible!”

“It’s fine ‘Navi.” Sonny called back. His voice was quiet, and he felt his throat began to burn.

“Sonny Mateo de la Vega, you open this door right now, young man.”

Usnavi’s voice was full of concern and Sonny groaned. He knew that it would put his cousin at ease to be able to take care of him, but on the other hand...he _reeeeaaallly_ didn’t want to open that door.

“C’mon Son, please. I’m just...worried about you, _mijo_.”

Damn him.

Sonny opened the door slowly and only a little, but Usnavi shoved his foot in the opening and barged right in, immediately going into mother hen mode.

“ _Dios mío_ , Sonny your eyes are all red, did you get any sleep last night? And don’t think I didn’t hear you getting up every fifteen minutes, because I did. Come on, let’s get you out of those clothes and into bed.”

“Cuz, c’mon I’m fine.” Sonny croaked.

“Nope,” Usnavi shook his head firmly, “let’s go, kid.”

Usnavi began to take Sonny’s coat off, hanging it up in their closet as the boy folded his arms and glared at the wall. He rolled his eyes.

 _Kids these days,_ he thought to himself as he went out the door. Kicking off his shoes, Sonny shot Pete a quick text that he had been caught.

 **Postman Pete:** Good luck, bro. You’re gonna need it :P

He threw the cell phone onto the bed and sat down heavily, just as a headache started coming on. Cringing slightly, he let his head fall into hands. He looked up again at the sound of Usnavi coming back. His cousin had a pile of clothes in his hands.

“Here Sonny, put these on.”

Sonny squinted at the clothes, before looking up at Usnavi with wide eyes.

“B-but cuz, these are yours!”

“Yeah? And they’re clean. You never wash your clothes. Come on, put ‘em on.”

‘But they’re so big.” he grumbled, grabbing the clothes from Usnavi’s hands and pausing, “Could you...um...turn around or something?”

“Just put on the clothes, Sonny!”

“Okay okay, geez.” he changed quickly, or tried to before a dry cough wracked his body.

Usnavi was at his side in a moment, ignoring the way Sonny tried to wave him off.

“It’s fine.” he rasped, but the feeling of fire in his throat didn’t go away.

“It’s not fine,” Usnavi said softly, leading Sonny to his bed, “Just lie down, it’s gonna be alright.”

“ _I_ know it is! It’s just a cold, ‘Snavi. Nothin’ to worry about.”

“Yeah well,” Usnavi’s voice was quiet as Sonny sat down on the bed. His hand ran through Sonny’s curls affectionately, “you know me. Gotta make sure my favourite little cousin’s feeling at his best.”

“‘Navi come on.” Sonny batted his hand away and pouted as Usnavi laughed.

“Get under those blankets, Sonny. I’ll go make some tea.”

“Bueno, ‘snavi.” Sonny mumbled as he crawled under the sheets.

Usnavi watched his little cousin fondly as he tried desperately to keep his eyes open.

* * *

Sonny awoke to the feeling of a hand running through his curls and soft singing above him. His eyes blinked open and he moved his head a little to see the source of the noise. Usnavi sat on the side of his bed, singing some old song to himself.

There was a cold cloth on his forehead that hadn’t been there before and his throat still burned. He coughed weakly. Usnavi turned, his eyes wide and worried, but they softened when he saw Sonny peeking up at him from under the blankets.

“You fell asleep, mijo, and you’re forehead’s hot. I think this is the start of a fever.”

“It’s fine.”

“You keep saying that and maybe you’ll magically get better.” Usnavi smiled, shoving a mug of warm tea into his hands, “Drink up.”

“This better be the good stuff. Not that chamomile shit.”

“Hey! Just because you’re sick doesn’t mean you can swear!”

Sonny waved him off, taking a sip from the tea and smiling softly as the warm liquid eased his burning throat. Usnavi smiled at the little face his cousin made and stood up.

“So what’ll it be, Son?”

“What’re you talkin’ about ‘snavi?” Sonny asked, looking up at his cousin with a raised eyebrow. He took another sip of the honeyed tea. _Mmmm_.

“What book do you want me to read?”

Sonny stilled, before letting out a raspy groan.

When he was little, Usnavi would always read to him when he got sick. Of course, this was back when he could barely read himself, and had actually wanted Usnavi to read to him. Now he was fifteen and absolutely capable of reading his own books, thank you very much.

“Don’t you gotta go to work, cuz!?” he complained.

“You think I’m opening shop with you like this?” Usnavi shook his head, “No way. Now, what’s it gonna be?”

Sonny was silent, folding his arms and scowling deeply.

“Well, we gotta read this book for class-”

“Where is it?”

“In my bag.” he pointed across the room to his backpack.

Usnavi crouched by the bag, looking through it, mumbling to himself now and again about _all the junk you’ve got in here, Sonny._ Finally, he pulled out a small book, looked at the cover, and laughed.

“Alright, cuz. Scooch over.” He moved onto Sonny’s bed, and the two shuffled until Usnavi was lying beside his cousin, Sonny’s head leaning against his shoulder. Usnavi opened the book and began to read.

“Chapter One. _There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question._ ”

* * *

The rest of the week, Sonny was subjected to Usnavi’s hovering and his fever got worse on the second day. Usnavi was awoken to the sound of Sonny’s shivering beneath the covers. He immediately scrambled out of bed, throwing his own blanket over his cousin.

He didn’t sleep that night, sitting crouched by the boy’s bed all night, only leaving to get more blankets from the closet. He ran a hand over Sonny’s sweat drenched hair and sighed. Usnavi knew, rationally, that Sonny was going to be fine. This wasn’t like before, with his parents. Things were different now, but he couldn’t help being afraid.

What if Sonny never got better?

The next morning, the boy blinked awake to find Usnavi asleep on his bed beside him. He rolled his eyes, but didn’t wake his cousin, the dark rings under his eyes reminding Sonny just how hard he worked for him.

At the same time…

Usnavi was a real life Nurse Ratchet.

“Sonny! Don’t you take those blankets off!”

“C’mon, ‘Navi it’s too hot in here!”

It was the third day into Sonny’s week under the Usnavi regime and he was going to go absolutely nuts if he didn’t get out of this room. Sometimes, if he was lucky, his cousin would crack a window and Sonny would race to it, sticking his head out into the open air before the older man dragged him back to the bed.

But mostly, the week had consisted of being force fed him soup like when he was three, and Usnavi only allowing him to see one person.

 _Usnavi_.

And if he saw _Usnavi_ one more time, he’d kill him.

“I’m telling you right now, Son. Don’t take them off!” His cousin watched him with wide, unblinking eyes that reminded him of a very put out Dominican owl and Sonny pouted, sinking into his pillow.

“I do this because I love you.” Usnavi reminded him for what seemed like the millionth time. He bent down and kissed Sonny’s forehead quickly, ducking out of the way with a laugh when the boy tried to hit him. “I’ll be back tonight.”

As soon as he heard the door shut, Sonny smirked, beginning to move the blankets off his bed and onto the floor. That is, before he got a text.

 **USCOASTGUARD** : Don’t take them off!

Sonny’s scream, while muffled by a pillow, could be heard throughout the Barrio.

When Usnavi got home that evening, he was pleased to find Sonny asleep, still in the ocean of blankets he had been left in. He couldn’t help affectionately flattening his cousin’s curls, and smiled slightly when Sonny’s eyes blinked open sleepily.

“Hey, ‘snavi.” he muttered.

“Hey, Son. Go back to sleep.”

“‘Kay.”

Kicking off his shoes, and stretching his back out, Usnavi quickly changed into his own pajamas. He fell back onto his bed across from Sonny’s and smiled. Despite the crap he gave his cousin, Sonny was a good kid, and Usnavi was lucky to have him.

To tell the truth, he didn’t know what he’d do without him.

* * *

By the fourth day, Sonny’s fever had gone down significantly, but his sore throat had made the ultimate comeback, and he had a thermos of tea beside his bed which Usnavi had used his lunch break to make for him.

At that moment, he was hidden beneath a slightly smaller mountain of blankets than had previously been on his bed, reading the rest of his book. Somehow, he’d been able to convince Usnavi to let him shed some of his layers.

The S.O.S he’d sent to Vanessa had probably also helped.

The creaking of the bedroom door brought his attention back to the outside world.

“Hey, kid.”

Sonny poked his head above the blankets to see Benny, smiling sympathetically and holding a small paper bag.

“Hey, Benny! How’d you get passed the warden?” he asked, coughing softly into his arm.

“Ahh, you know Usnavi can’t say no to me.” he took a seat on the side of the boy’s bed, and ruffled his hair “How’re you feeling?”

“Like someone lit a match and threw it down my throat.” Sonny admitted. “What’s that?”

He pointed vaguely at the bag in Benny’s hand. The man only grinned and opened it, showing Sonny what was inside. He immediately brightened.

“Benny you’re my saviour!” he croaked, reaching for the bag full of candy bars and Benny winced.

“Yikes, you do sound terrible.” he closed the bag and set it down beside the bed, “You probably shouldn’t eat those yet.”

Taking one look at Sonny’s frustrated and crushed face, he quickly added,

“Hey but it’s great incentive to get better! That’s like a week’s worth of chocolate I bought you, little man.”

“Thanks, Benny.” Sonny smiled slightly from beneath his blanket and Benny sent him his own pitying smile.

“Don’t let the warden see it.” he whispered, jerking a thumb towards the door and Sonny grinned and winked, leaning over to shove the bag under the bed. “Get better soon, kiddo. It’s not the same outside without you.”

“What’s been going on out there?” he asked, shutting his book beneath the covers.

“Well, Vanessa’s been trying to see you, but you know Usnavi. He won’t let her get within a foot of you.”

“It’s always nice to feel wanted.”

“And Nina’s gonna come by later today, so prepare yourself.”

Sonny loved Nina, really he did, but if there was one person who was equally bad when it came to people being sick, it was her. Sonny swore she inherited it from Usnavi.

“Oh joy.” he said blandly, coughing into his blanket.

“Hey don’t worry, you’ll be out of here and back to the land of the living in no time.”

Sonny couldn’t help but smile, nodding as Benny ruffled his hair again. He stood up from the bed and kicked the bag of chocolate farther under the bed and out of Usnavi’s view.

“See you soon, kid.”

“Bye Benny! Thanks for coming by.”

As Benny had warned him, Nina did, in fact, fly into the room later that day, Usnavi following behind her with a smug grin on his face.

“Oooh, Sonny,” Nina cooed, sitting on the side of the bed, as Benny had, petting the boy’s hair back and feeling his forehead, “ _Cómo te sientes?_ ”

“I’m fine Nina, really.” he shook off her hand and pouted, crossing his arms. If there was one thing Sonny de la Vega hated, it was being babied.

Nina tutted, and turned to Usnavi.

“How has he been?” she asked, and Sonny rolled his eyes. It was just like them, to talk about him like he wasn’t there.

“His fever broke yesterday morning,” Usnavi answered, ignoring the way Sonny stuck his tongue out at him, “I think now it’s just the rest of it. His throat’s pretty bad.”

“You poor thing.” Nina said, turning back to him, “You’re lucky Usnavi’s here to take care of you.”

“That’s right, kid! Respect your cousin!” Usnavi butted in with a grin and the boy groaned, shuffling deeper into his blanket nest.

“Oh leave me alone.”

The two smiled fondly at the boy. Nina continued to brush back Sonny’s curls as she talked to Usnavi. He hummed his contentment, and Usnavi commented on how like a cat he was.

“Not one of those nice ones though,” he said, “the feral ones. Like the ones you find in the trash. Sonny’s a trash cat.”

“You see how I’m abused in my fragile state, Nina?” Sonny complained, glaring at his laughing cousin, “You see? He’s not fit to raise a child.”

“You’re both unbelievable. Two peas in a pod.” Nina’s laughter was soft but the two stared at her appalled.

“What an insult.” Sonny muttered, and Usnavi glared.

“You’re no better, Son.”

Nina laughed, standing up from the bed, her hand leaving Sonny’s hair. She kissed him on the cheek and he rolled his eyes, but didn’t shoo her away.

“Mom wanted me to send over some dinner so you don’t have to cook tonight.” She told Usnavi who visibly brightened, his shoulders relaxing.

“Thanks Nina,” he said, and kissed her cheek.

“I’ll be back later.” she turned to Sonny, “Get better soon, Niño. We miss you out there.”

“Bye Nina!” he sighed, smiling as she left. He didn’t miss the way Usnavi’s eyebrow shot up.

“You still hung up on her?” he asked and Sonny glared, shuffling back into the blanket pile.

“No.” his voice was muffled by the fabric and Usnavi laughed.

“It’s alright, kid. You’re secret’s safe with me.”

“You’re the worst.”

* * *

By the fifth day, Sonny was sitting up and listening to his music, bobbing his head and sniffling only a little. The worst had passed but he had yet to convince Usnavi that he was well enough to go back to work.

So he sat, trying to enjoy what was probably the last day of his lazy confinement, before his cousin put him back to work.

When the window to the bedroom slid open of its own volition, Sonny almost screamed. Thankfully he caught sight of a familiar pair of shoes scrambling over the sill and landing on the floor.

“Pete!” he cried, brightening immediately, waving his friend over excitedly. Pete cringed and didn’t move from the edge of the room.

“How’re you feeling, Sonny?” he asked with a strained smile. The smile fell from Sonny’s face and he looked at his friend, thoroughly unimpressed.

“What the hell are you doing, man?”

“I just don’t want to get sick, okay?” Pete said exasperatedly.

“You’re such a good friend,” Sonny rolled his eyes, “Did you just wait this long to come see me until I wasn’t sick anymore.”

“Listen, Son. I have a very delicate immune system-”

“Yeah, yeah, what’d you bring me?”

Pete couldn’t help but grin when Sonny made grabby hands for his backpack. He took it off and pushed it across the room, ignoring his friend’s exasperated sigh.

“You better have some good shit in here, you wuss.” he muttered, rifling through the bag.

He obviously found what he was looking for, because he let out a loud _AHA!_ Before quickly biting his lip so Usnavi wouldn’t hear. He pulled out a pile of comic books and pumped his fist in the air.

“Yes! Pete, you’re a saint!” he cried, and hugged them close, “You wanna stay and read ‘em with me!?”

Pete was about to refuse, but Sonny was pouting and giving him those puppy dog eyes which worked on every single person in the barrio, and Pete was no exception.

“Fine, but you stay on that side of the bed.”

Sonny did not stay on his side of the bed. Rather, the moment Pete sat down on the bed, kicking his shoes off and putting his feet up, Sonny was leaning against this shoulder. Pete whined, but didn’t have the heart to push the kid off, so he let him stay.

Sonny moved the blanket so it was over both of them, and they sat like that for hours, reading through the huge pile of comics that Pete had brought.

That is, until Usnavi came to check on Sonny.

“Pete!” he cried, when he saw the young hooligan on the bed, “What the hell, how did you get in!? You’re getting the broom, you little punk!”

Pete jumped up, snatching his bag and racing to the window, starting to climb out it. Usnavi came back, broom in hand and huffed. He pulled the boy back inside by his collar, dragging him out of the room.

“If you’re gonna escape, I’d rather you do it through the front door, like a person. Not out a two story window. C’mon Peter, honestly.”

“It was Sonny!” Pete shouted, glaring back at his friend while Sonny only waved sweetly, “He seduced me into staying!”

“I’m sure he did.”

“Bye Pete! Thanks for coming over!” Sonny sighed contentedly and went back to reading.

* * *

Finally, on the sixth day, Sonny hopped out of bed, showered, and took a deep breath. He could breath through his nose again! Honestly, he felt great, changing into real clothes (not just Usnavi’s) and pulling on his shoes.

“Morning, cuz!” Sonny shouted as he strolled down the stairs.

As expected, the soft singing stopped immediately and Usnavi was in the doorway a moment later, glaring up at him.

“What do you think you’re doing out of bed?” he asked, crossing his arms and tapping his foot, ever the picture of the impatient parent.

“I’m fine, Usnavi.” Sonny assured him, walking down the rest of the stairs to stand in front of his cousin with a grin, “I woke up this morning and I feel great!”

“I’ll be the judge of that. Go sit in the kitchen.”

“ _Naaaaviiiiiii!!!_ ” Sonny whined, but Usnavi simply pointed.

He trudged into the kitchen, plopping down on one of the chairs, waiting for his tyrant of a cousin to return, and when he did, Sonny groaned.

“Oh shut up, Sonny.” he chided, handing the boy the thermometer. Sonny put it under his tongue with a glare as Usnavi rested a hand on his forehead.

“Huh, you don’t feel warm.”

“Thas becauth ‘m nawt!” he mumbled over the thermometer and Usnavi waved a finger at him.

“Don’t talk.”

After a few minutes, Usnavi took the thermometer out of Sonny’s mouth and looked at it critically.

“Huh, your temperature’s pretty much normal.”

“Told ya.”

“And you don’t have a headache? You’re throat’s fine? Do you still have the shivers?”

“No, Usnavi.” Sonny insisted, “I feel fine, I’m good, it’s great.”

His cousin hummed critically, looking down at the thermometer again before looking back up at Sonny. A small smile crept up his face.

“Alright, fine. You can get back to work today.”

“Yes!” Sonny’s fist pumped the air and Usnavi laughed, going back to making breakfast.

“I should keep you in more often if you get this excited about work afterwards.”

“I’ve been kept in that room for a week, ‘Navi. I gotta get out.” he stood up from the chair, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Yeah, well you can eat your breakfast first,” Usnavi pushed his cousin into the dining room with a fond smile.

Sonny stopped suddenly though, turning around with a smile. Before Usnavi registered it, Sonny had his arms around him, his face turned the other way.

“Thanks for lookin’ out for me, cuz.”

Usnavi blinked, but softened, wrapping his arms around Sonny as well.

“You don’t have to thank me, Son. It’s my job.”

“Still…” Sonny didn’t finish his thought but Usnavi understood.

“Yeah, I love you too.”

* * *

Later that night, after work, Usnavi was awoken by the sound of rustling across the room. He groaned, rolling over and squinting through the darkness of their room.

“Sonny, what are you doing? It’s past midnight, I- are you eating? What do you have in your mouth, Sonny!?”

_Click_

“WHERE’D YOU GET THAT CHOCOLATE!?”

**Author's Note:**

> :D Also the book Usnavi is reading is Jane Eyre!!! ((bc i love it))  
> COme speak your words to me @hamilanne


End file.
